Veterans' memorial work begins

Published 4:59 pm, Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Three years after its conception, work has started on a veterans' memorial in Schertz.

Work crews last week broke ground on the Veterans Memorial Plaza, which will be situated on a city-owned lot next to the Schertz Senior Center on Schertz Parkway.

Steve White, a member of the Veterans Memorial Plaza board, said he is pleased that construction is under way.

“It's marvelous when they started moving dirt (last week),” White said. “My phone rang off the hook. There were a lot of thank you's from people. They were thanking us because we were finally getting started and that we are seeing progress.”

The Veterans Memorial Plaza board so far has raised $78,000 for the project, which represents only a portion of the $210,000 to $220,000 needed to finish the memorial.

White said the initial phase of the project will include the laying of a concrete foundation and the planting of trees, which he said should be completed by the end of the month. The trees that will be planted at the memorial site will be moved from the former Playscape area near the senior center.

The foundation will hold the engraved bricks of the names of individual veterans or their families who have donated to the memorial.

White said the memorial project so far will have 600 engraved bricks, which will be made at Hanson Brick in Schertz with the names inscribed on them by Carter Memorials in Seguin. A date has not been set, White said, as to when the bricks will be put in at the memorial site, as a contractor still needs to be selected for that work.

Once completed, the Veterans Memorial Plaza will have a pentagon shape, with markers on each corner representing different branches of the armed services, and a seating area. A pathway would lead to the plaza, with its center containing three flag poles — one each for the U.S, Texas and POW/MIA flags — and two bronze statues, one of a fallen soldier and one of a little boy, who represents the future of our country, saluting a fallen soldier.

Since the Veterans Memorial Plaza board is now under the auspices of the non-profit Schertz Parks and Recreation Foundation, White said the board has access to city resources to construct the memorial. The city's public works crews are doing the ground work for the project.